Scientific work in the Institute of Osteopathy
Work on confirming the effectiveness of osteopathic treatment with facts and figures commenced at our Institute in 2006, with the establishment of a scientific laboratory that united osteopaths, physiologists, physicists and engineers. The researchers focused their efforts on the verification of the effectiveness of osteopathic treatment and on the study of the endogenic rhythms of the body. Over the course of this work, several patents have been awarded for techniques and breakthroughs which have allowed science to corroborate and measure what osteopaths feel with their hands.
Today, thanks to the status and influence of St Petersburg State University and the North-Western State Medical University n. a. I. I. Mechnikov as top medical schools, this scientific work is conducted with the participation of leading scientists from different branches of medicine.
Our research activity is focused on:
- verifying the results of osteopathic treatment of different diseases, studying the influence of osteopathic treatment on symptoms and syndromes, and benchmarking of clinical, instrumental and laboratory research;
- developing algorithms for osteopathic evaluation and treatment under different classifications of disease, together with other methods of diagnostics and treatment;
- organizing osteopathic care for the public.
The inclusion of osteopathy in the index of official medical disciplines has allowed Russian osteopathic physicians to conduct serious research in full compliance with the criteria of evidence-based medicine in Russia’s leading scientific research centres. The Institute’s lecturers conduct research and write dissertations, work which affords the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of osteopathy in treating different pathologies:
- osteopathic treatment methods in preparation for labour and in the elimination of neonatal complications;
- together with the department of propedeutics of internal diseases of the North-Western State Medical University n. a. I. I. Mechnikov, research has been conducted into the possibility of using osteopathy in the treatment of patients presenting disorders in the biliary system;
- at the Russian Scientific Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Balneology, dissertations have been prepared on the use of osteopathy in the treatment of neurological pathologies (vertebral artery complications, headache);
- at the G.I. Turner Children’s Orthopedic Scientic Research Centre, osteopathic techniques have been applied successfully to the correction of somatic dysfunctions in children presenting orthopedic pathologies;
- at the North-Western State Medical University n. a. I. I. Mechnikov, scientific and methodological approaches have been formulated for the organization of osteopathic care in different categories of patients;
- at the Kazan’ branch of the St Petersburg Institute of Osteopathy, research has been conducted into the effectiveness of osteopathic physicians working in combination with neurologists and orthodontists with the support and assistance of specialists from the Kazan’ State Medical Academy.
The aim of these projects is not only the accumulation of scientific information to demonstrate the effectiveness of osteopathic treatment, but also the integration of osteopathy into the wider system of medical and preventive measures for the treatment of a whole range of diseases.
Since 2007, the results of scientific work undertaken by the Institute’s lecturers and students, as well as by our Russian and international colleagues, have been published in the Russian Osteopathic Journal — the only scientific periodical in Russia dedicated to osteopathy. The journal allows Russian osteopaths to to publish and discuss the results of osteopathic research, as well as to get acquainted with the unique practical experience of their international counterparts. In 2016 the journal was entered on the list of publications recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission.